Sword Art Online: Shinigami Rising
by Tsutei
Summary: Yuuki Tsutei was normal. Or close to it anyways. Aside from the tragic incidents of his past he's lived a completely regular life. That is up until his brother Kyousuke brings him a new game to play during a visit. But there can't be anything wrong with Sword art online right? After all it's just a game right? Wrong. Now Yuuki must learn to adapt to do the impossible. Survive SAO
1. Volume 1: Link Start

**SWORD ART ONLINE: SHINIGAMI RISING**

**First thing I'd like to state. This is a reboot. After rereading the original I realized it was quite horrible. So I'd like to rewrite it. Adding new characters, plot twists, and feel inducing scenes. Too set the mood I like to suggest songs to listen to while reading and I hope you in enjoy them. All criticism is welcome. The more reviews I get the faster I write. Thanks, Now to the story. **

**P.S. Any questions you have will be answered in Pm. Enjoy the story.**

**November 29****th**** 2024**

Life can be unreasonably cruel sometimes. I'd thought so many times before. But I was wrong. It wasn't life that was cruel it was the world itself. Life was beautiful but it was harbored in an ugly restraint of a shell we called the world. So I laid here thinking about how much I hated this world. I had no right to be angry. People out there had it worse than me. Here I was under a budding tree moping because I wanted to go back to a game. But not just any game. No, sword art online was a whole new world where I could be anything. I wouldn't be held back by the restraints and taboos of the modern world. But hey I guess I was allowed my own dreams too. I came from a poor house as it was. A small 2 floor 3 room house that sat in a detraining neighborhood. It was a neighborhood that was already home to delinquents and thugs.

You know when I think back on it. I can't tell if that day was a blessing or a curse. If my phone hadn't rung that day at least 30 people would still be alive. But at the same time if I'd never picked that phone up that day I'd still be laying here under this tree whining about my life.

My name is Yuuki Tsutei. And I survived Sword art online. But I guess that's not enough to explain my story. To explain I'd have to go back to that time myself. Even if I could go back to that time and change it all. I'd be way to scared to do it.. So I guess I should start from the very beginning.

Born at 6 pounds 2 weeks premature…Okay maybe that's too far back.

**November 5****th**** 2022**

I was at my favorite tree again when it happened. It was another day out late after school. I'd always sit under a cherry blossom tree and think. You could say it was a hobby I'd grown good at. I'd think of everything from sweets to new anime that had come out to the weather. It was scary…to think. You always thought of things that you didn't want to. You couldn't control it. I stared up at the dawn sky in which the sun had sunk just over the horizon leaving a pink-red trail behind it in the sky. It was by far the best part of the day. My phone buzzed in my pocket. Of course my first thought was to ignore it. But if it were home I'd be in for a serious nagging when I got there. I rustled in my bag for a second finally finding my phone. The screen came on and I read the name in surprise. Strangely enough it was my brother Kyousuke. He'd always been my hero. He'd done what nobody before in this down had done…he'd escaped. For as long as this small town has existed. He's been one of the few that made it out and succeeded at life. He was attending a college for medicine in Tokyo had his own apartment and car. He had a job as a nurse. My finger hovered over the answer button and I hesitantly answered.

"Yo" I chose my words very carefully so as not to sound annoyed or lazy. I went for a laid back stance with my words.

"Yuuki. I'm at home. I came by to visit and they said you hadn't gotten back yet. Your not still mad about that thing are you?" He asked.

"What's that supposed to mean? How am I not supposed to be mad about that!" I said.

"Oh. You must think I'm talking about…that. I was talking about not being able to pick you up from school."

"School?"

"Yeah. Didn't you get my text?"

"Must have been during class. I probably ignored it." I heard him sigh loudly over the receiver.

"I swear Yuuki, you're never gonna make it if keep being such a slacker" He said.

"I'll worry about that on my own. Wait, how did you get off work. I thought you worked the dead hour?" I could hear him sigh again.

"Do you know how many time's I've had to explain this already? 4 times in the past half hour, I've explained it. I took a couple vacation days. Honestly I wish peopled stop asking. Anyways. Do you have plans tomorrow?"

"Depends. What are we doing last time you made me watch a surgery." I said bluntly. Kyousuke had a horrible imagination and his ideas of bonding were usually illegal in some way.

"We're just going for a ride."

"You said that when you took us drag racing too."

"D-did I now? Well how bout' this. I'm hopeless and if you let me go off on my own I might get hurt."

"You're obviously guilty and who cares if you get hurt. But I guess I have no choice. I'll come. I'm on my way home."

As I arrived at my house I noticed immediate changes. For one there was a black car parked at the curb and my dog wasn't outside. Two the lights were on in all the rooms meaning Kyousuke was already here. I headed through the front door and was assaulted with all the smells from the kitchen.

"I'm back!" I yelled as I set my bag beside the door and took my shoes off.

"Kyousuke's in your room!" My mom yelled from the Kitchen.

"Where's Father?" I yelled back. She stood in the kitchen doorway with her hollow smile.

"He's working late tonight." She said. It was something I always respected about her. She could stay strong no matter life threw at her. I realized Kyousuke was in my room and my mother saw my demeanor change.

"What's wrong?" She asked. I couldn't tell her of course. But Kyousuke had a small O.C.D like hobby. No matter where he was he'd go through your stuff. I thought to the small sheet folded and hidden in the loose board at the back of my closet that held my dirty magazines.

"Nothing's wrong mom. But thanks for the concern." Sweat broke out on my forehead as I approached my room. I slammed the door open. In the middle of the room stood Kyousuke holding one of the many dirty mags I had hidden. I slowly closed the door. Surely my life is over. There's no way I'm going to live through this. Mother and Father will disown the second they find out about this. I heard the door slide open behind me and shakily turned my head. Kyousuke stood in the door way as menacing as ever.

"Yuuki… I think it's time we had…the talk…"He said

"No! Not happening. I'd rather die" We both stood there in silence faces down shrouded by shadow for a minute.

"Don't worry I won't tell mom" He said.

"Tell me what?" We watched in horror as her shadow appeared at the end of the hallway. Rolling pen in hand she approached us. "What are you hiding?" She squinted down her glasses at me.

"I have dirt-" Kyousuke cut me off.

"Dirty clothes. His room is a wreck." He said.  
"Oh. Why didn't you just say so? Oh! Look at the time, I'm running behind on dinner already!" She rushed off down the hall again.

"Oh thank god, I was sure we were dead." I sighed

"Don't worry, I've got your back. If we head out back and start a bonfire, I'll tell you about our plans tomorrow."

"Deal! But there are no tree's around we have no tinder."

"Don't worry I'm taking out the trash, we can burn that."

We headed out back where the moon begun to rise upward into the sky. Kyousuke set the trash bag and box on the ground and threw a match in. The flames spread slowly, melting the plastic and paper first. I became curious and look into the box and my heart dropped 3 feet.

"M-m-m-m-m-m-my mags! Kyousuke! Quick get water. They can still be saved!"

"Whatever do you mean." He flashed his quaint smirk.

"I'm never gonna get used to you." I sat on the ground a bit away from the fire and let the heat wash over me.

"Say Yuuki."

"Yeah"

"Tomorrow we're going to play a game."

"What kind?"

"A VRMMORPG"

"A what?"

"A virtual reality massively multiplayer online role playing game."

"Say again?"

"We're playing a game where you fight with swords."

"Oooooh. Cool. What's it called?"

"Sword art online…" He said. The silence was Palpable. I stood up and walked over to him, putting my arm on his shoulder. He never saw the headlock coming.  
"Who'd you steal that from! I know you didn't buy two nervegears and the game!" I yelled.

"Well I was a beta tester so I got one of them free and bought the other one for you." _"That makes no sense" _I thought to myself "_He has a nurse's salary he'd have to save up for almost a year for that." _

"How'd you get the money?"

"I worked two jobs."

"Thanks Ky. I never saw you as the generous type. Maybe I've misunderstood you this whole time…"

"What are you talking about? I only got this game so I could kick your ass a couple times."

"You couldn't go with the moment!?"

"Come on let's head in. Dinner will be ready soon."

**November 6****th****, 2022 Exactly 12:55**

"Don't worry mom we'll be out before Dad get's home okay. Let's say about 17:00? Deal?" Kyousuke said. He'd been trying to get our mom off our back for the past hour. She sighed and waved at us halfheartedly.

"Fine, fine go play your little game. I'll see you later." She leaned over the bed and kissed Kyousuke's forehead. He blushed, pink in the cheeks.

"Mom I'm too old for that. Besides it's not like we're leaving for good. Y-Yuuki! Hurry up and put your nervegear on. It's 12:59!" he yelled. I slammed back into the bed and positioned my head comfortably in the nerve gear helmet. The clock on the inside of the visor slowly counted down.

5...4…3…2…1… "Link Start!"


	2. Volume:2

**dHi. So how was that first chapter? I really couldn't tell when I posted it. I don't have much to say this time. I hope you enjoy the story and stick with me until the end. Thanks. Enjoy!**

**Sword Art Online: Day 1**

It was weird. Being in a body that wasn't mine. I was taller than my true self, skinnier too. I unsheathed my blade and checked it out. It was a simple katana. It's plain wooden handle and dull blade a sore sight.

"Isn't this awesome! Yuu look at this!" Kyousuke yelled from somewhere behind me. I turned to see him admiring his own pig iron rapier. He fawned over the blades point like a child with a new Christmas toy.

"It's not that impressive. I thought the weapons would be more…. Stylish." I said.

"You'll get better weapons as you go. Stop whining. It's not like they'd start you off with Excalibur."

"E-e-e-excalibur! Excalibur's in this game! I want it! Where can we get it and how? When? Do we buy it? Is it a quest item?"

"Calm down your way too hyped. It's way too high. Plus it's a legendary weapon. A lot of the beta test players don't even know if it's real or just a rumor."

"Bummer. So what do we do from here?" I asked

"We should probably head out the main gates first and get a feel for the combat. Then we can return here sell mob drops and buy new armor and weapons… Are you listening?"

"Yeah. I just wanna get to a fight!" He chopped me in the head.

"Calm down, calm down. We'll get there. Sheesh." We started to head towards the gate, winding through the long alleyways that made the starting floor safe zone. As we walked I noticed the crowd thickening and grabbed Kyousuke's sleeve as not to lose him in the crowd. He shakily turned his head to me, a look of utter disgust plastered to his face.

"What is this a Shoujo yaoi!? Let go of me!" He said

"It's not like that. The crowds huge we'll lose each other if we don't stick together. Even if I rolled that way, no way in hell I'd fall for a brute like you."

"I'm a nurse! My gentle touch has healed the sick and saved lives! What has yours done? My guess is it has something to do with those dirty mags."

"Shut up and walk! You know nothing!" We continued in silence to the gate.

_[This world's amazing!] _ I thought to myself_ [I can literally smell the foods and the tangy smell of smelted metal.] _Before I knew it we stood before the giant gates that lead to the fields where I'd face my first monster. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins, the wind blowing on my face, the smell of grass! I could feel it all! This world was amazing! I stepped forward to the white line that signified the end of the safe zone and with that took my first step into a new adventure.

**17:20 P.M.**

"Yo, Kyousuke! When can I fight? Watch for a second until you understand the game mechanics, you said, you'll be lvl. 3 in a hour, you said. I haven't gotten to fight one monster yet!" I whined from the sidelines a Kyousuke fought a small group of boars. The smallest of the bunch turned to me and rushed forward. I stood quickly unsheathing my katana, side stepping it and slashing upwards through the boars hindquarters. It buckled some and I spun and slashed downward on it's back.

"Hey Kyousuke. Check it this is easy." I continued to slash wildly at it's back until It kicked back and knocked me down. It's red eye's glowed faintly as it prepared to charge. It's health bar wasn't even in the yellow yet.

_[That can't be right. I hit it at least 5 times. Kyousuke said they were weaker than slimes in other games! How?] _

I rolled away as it charged and stood.

"Kyousuke! It won't die! Why's this game so hard?"

"Initial motion you idiot!" He turned his attention back to his own battle the sick smile on his face growing wider with each strike. Then I noticed it. A slight pause before each attack as he held his sword in a striking position just long enough for it's blade to change color and glow blue. I turned back to my own enemy. It wasn't much but I paused before I struck this time. Time seemed to slow as I stepped forward and my now red blade swept just under the boars eyes and through the upper half of it's body.

"Wow. Yuu I gotta be honest. Your skills aren't all that exceptional." He kicked me in the small of my back, knocking me to the ground. As I sat up I noticed the small diamond over his head had changed color to a deep orange.

"Huh? Kyousuke what's that?" I pointed to the insignia over his head.

"Crap, My player status. It was supposed to stay green for a while. It's orange because I hit you. Now people are gonna think I'm a player killer or something"

"Is that so bad?" an unidentified voice said from somewhere nearby. I stood quickly and reached for my sword.

"Calm down now kiddy we don't wanna hurt you anything. Just wanna talk to Kyousuke for a second or two." This time a second voice from directly behind me. A rustling to my left indicated a third person with them.

"PoH?" The day, no the second I heard Kyousuke utter the word something changed. A darker side of him I'd never acknowledged.  
"Yeah." PoH came from behind Kyousuke the dagger at his side loomed over me.

_[Even in a game these guys are scary.] _I thought to myself. The other two revealed themselves beside me as well. They were slightly less terrifying. One with his dagger and the other with his simplistic rapier.

"Long time no see Johnny." Kyousuke said to the one at my right. The one with the rapier.

"Hey Kyou what about me. Don't forget me Ky-senpai." The one to my left rattled off annoyingly.

"Red?" Kyousuke asked

"Yeah. Now that we're all familiar, who's the shrimp?" Johnny said to Kyousuke

"My little brother… We can leave him out of it for now." Kyousuke said I finally found a place for my words to fit into the conversation.

"Leave me out of wha-" My question was interrupted by a extremely bright white/blue light. Within the blink of an eye I stood within the main coliseum of the safe zone. I looked above to the looming hooded figure. The sky turned crimson with warning signs and I descended into hell


End file.
